While staying in a delightful Comfort Inn in the not-so-bustling metropolis of Ithaca,
I came across a book entitled A Definitive Study of Your Future in Electronic
Engineering. If it had not been sitting next to A Definitive Study of Your
Future as an Airline Stewardess I might have taken it as a sign from a high power
that this would be my future career, a decision I have long pondered, agonized over, and
flipped coins for. As you might have guessed, this was a rather well-aged book, copyright
1961. It seems that books are less likely to attempt to define anyone's future these
days. Amused, I flipped through this 160-page how-to manual, which covers everything
form where to go to college to how much you should expect to earn in your newfound
profession.

Of particular interest to myself was chapter 11, Women in Electronic Engineering.
"Ah," I thought. "This should be interesting."
Generally, the attitude of the author (Sol Levine) was that women could be fine engineers
as long as that particular field of engineering did not involve physical work. Some ideas
have changed and some remain the same, either in practice or in theory. See for
yourself in the following excerpt:

"When Dr. Mervin J. Kelly, former president of Bell Telephone
aboratories, Inc., one of the leading electronic laboratories in the world,
was asked, 'Can girls make a go of engineering?' he answered with a resounding
'Yes!' According to Dr. Kelly, 'It is true that there are less than four thousand
women graduate engineers (as against about 600,000 men) in the United Satets
today. Nevertheless, there are some very good women engineers who hold
down splendid jobs and do fine, creative work. This is particularly
noticeable in electronics.'

"There was a time when engineering (chiefly civil engineering)
entailed a certain amount of heavy physical work outdoors, and that
made it a man's job. But today there is little physical work
connected with most branches of the engineering profession, and women with
the necessary aptitudes can become successful electronic engineers.

"Most of our coeducational colleges and universities now admit women as
engineering students. The men students take having women in their engineering
classes as a matter of course -- perhaps not always with enthusiasm, but at least with
resignation. Because the women in the engineering curriculum are usually
above-average students, the teachers welcome them in their classes. Professor
Cecilie Froehlich, head of the Electrical Engineering Department of the College of the
City of New York said, 'When you have one bright girl in your class
with men, it raises the entire level. Nobody wants to be outdone by a girl.'"